AFI AWARDS 2003 - WINNERS

IRONIC STORY
The irony fairly bounced off the walls of Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre as Japanese Story was called out on eight occasions as the film whose makers and cast won eight of the 14 awards in feature film at the 2003 AFI Awards presentation on November 21, 2003. The irony being that the unofficial theme of the night was ‘keep it Australian stories’ as anyone within reach of the microphone rallied those watching to take up the good fight in the Free Trade Agreement talks with the US. Andrew L. Urban reports.

Of course, Japanese Story is very much an Australian story, but it did sound ironic. Another irony was that Gettin’ Square had earned the most nominations – 14, as many as record holder Newsfront (1978). Had the AFI recognised comedy as a separate category in the top honours, the Chris Nyst scripted and Jonathan Teplitzky directed Gettin’ Square would have won some awards, but the film’s multiple nominations did not convert, except of course for David Wenham, whose colourful character of Johnny Spiteri gave him a chance to steal the film’s acting honours.

Televised on ABC, the Australian Film Institute Awards (more accurately the Australian Film and Television Awards) was more a platform for pressing the case of continued Government control over screen culture as opposed to free market forces (although nobody actually spelt out the detail of the issue).

The presentation itself left much to be desired, from the clunky on screen graphics to the tired apeing of the structure and style of Oscar ceremonies of old. Even the recent move of bringing in designers to dress the presenters, especially the women, didn’t always succeed in matching ‘person’ with ‘dress’. My dear colleague, the talented Tony Squires, is a great talent and well suited to certain types of tv shows, but an awards presentation is exceptionally cruel; a superbly witty script might have helped.

Technical presentation was simply woeful, and the ABC should be ashamed of this production. Even the most elementary aspects were goofed, such as exploding cans of streamers three quarters into the show, forcing the cameras to shoot nacross dangling lines for the remainder, often shadowing or even obscuring faces.

The most questionable element is the forcing together of two extensive awards lists, one for film and one for television. The latter has been cobbled into the AFI’s award charter because tv networks won’t telecast awards that contain no tv awards. This is a poor excuse to include them, and the organisation’s name and traditions, are being twisted for the fading allure of being on the telly.

And so we come to the ultimate irony: even after making this an overburdened awards presentation structure for the sake of tv visibility, the ratings suggest (and have historically suggested) that most people are watching something else. Could that be due to the poor record of inventiveness and flair that marks the history of the televised awards (exceptions excepted).

THE FILM AWARDSFEATURE FILM

BEST FILM
Japanese Story
Sue Maslin, Sue Brooks, Alison Tilson

BEST DIRECTION
Japanese Story - Sue Brooks

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Japanese Story - Alison Tilson

BEST SCREENPLAY ADAPTED FROM ANOTHER SOURCE
The Rage in Placid Lake - Tony McNamara

COMPLETE POST AFI AWARD FOR BEST EDITING
Japanese Story - Jill Bilcock

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Japanese Story -Ian Baker

BEST SOUND
Japanese Story-Livia Ruzic, Peter Grace, Peter Smith

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE
Japanese Story - Elizabeth Drake

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Ned Kelly - Steven Jones-Evans

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Ned Kelly - Anna Borghesi

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Toni Collette - Japanese Story

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
David Wenham - Gettin’ Square

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Sacha Horler - Travelling Light

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
David Ngoombujarra - Black and White

SPECIAL AWARDS

AFI YOUNG ACTOR AWARD
Liam Hess - Don’t Blame the Koala’s

BYRON KENNEDY AWARD
Dion Beebe A.C.S.

LONGFORD LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Ted Robinson

AFI GLOBAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Geoffrey Rush

HARPER’S BAZAAR AFI SCREENWRITING PRIZE
Alison Tilson

NON FEATUREBEST SHORT FICTION FILM
Cracker Bag - Glendyn Ivin

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Wildness - Michael McMahon

BEST SHORT ANIMATION
Harvie Krumpet - Adam Elliot

BEST DIRECTION IN A DOCUMENTARY
Painting With Light in a Dark World
Sascha Ettinger-Epstein

BEST SCREENPLAY IN A SHORT FICTION FILM
Cracker Bag - Glendyn Ivin

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A NON-FEATURE FILM
The Projectionist - Anthony Jennings

BEST SOUND IN A NON-FEATURE FILM
Hello - Jonathan Nix

BEST EDITING IN A NON-FEATURE FILM
Painting With Light in a Dark World - Roland Gallois with Andrew Arestides

AWARD FOR OPEN CRAFT IN A NON-FEATURE FILM
The Brotherhood for Excellence in Research and Innovative Story-Telling -
Terry Carlyon